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Adding to the list of rich foreigners who are buying land in New Zealand is singing sensation Justin Bieber. Fresh off a tour of NZ, during which he tweeted his love for the place, the ultimate Bielieber has entered negotiations to buy a substantial tract of land at Glenorchy, near Queenstown. The property includes various film sites from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies, and is where many Lothlorien scenes were shot.

“What the world doesn’t know is that Justin is a massive Lord of the Rings fan – but the movies only, not really the books which he’s never read,” says a source close to the singer. “Although he knows about Tom Bombadil, he thinks he’s hilarious. He’s seen some Bombadil fan videos online and he wants to create his own, but using these woods that appeared in the films.

“His plans are to build a replica of the horse-people hall and hold big Middle-earth parties exclusively for his friends – but he’ll likely want some local ring-ins as character props, so anyone who looks really hobbity will have a good shot at being invited.”

Bieber spent a few days in Queenstown after his concert in Auckland before jetting off to South America to continue his Purpose World Tour. The source added: “I can say for a fact that he was overheard having several phone conversations with a “PJ.” Whether that was ‘the’ Peter Jackson, I can’t really say. I just know the conversations definitely mentioned Bombadil, something called the Sil-merryland, and roles of interest to JayBee.”

Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien will recognize that the ‘Sil-merryland’ almost certainly refers to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, an epic compilation of stories recounting, in part, the struggle of the peoples of Middle-earth against the dark lord Morgoth. “Getting the film rights was apparently going to be a major hurdle” said the source. “‘Impossible’ and ‘a real long shot’ were overheard quite often.” But apparently Justin hopes to use his considerable influence to sweet-talk some of the members of the Tolkien family and Tolkien Estate who are huge fans, and devoted Bieliebers, to release at least limited rights to some of the Silmarillion stories.

Regarding possible roles for Bieber, one can only guess. Given that his physique doesn’t lend itself to playing the rotund Tom Bombadil, and Bombadil doesn’t appear in The Silmarillion anyway, fans can only speculate that it would have to refer to some other major role. Given Justin’s rather elfin features, the roles of the heroic Fingolfin, or even the proud Feanor come to mind. The mention of “growing acceptance of gender neutrality trends” was reportedly also overheard by our source, so the roles of Luthien or Melian can’t be ruled out completely.

Meanwhile, if the Queenstown land purchase goes ahead, the Mayor of Queenstown Lakes District has promised to name Bieber as an official inhabitant of Middle-earth. “I’m sure I can get Peter Jackson down here to dub him with a replica of Anduril – the guy owes me a favour for having to muck up all the horse poo he left behind after filming the charge of the Rohirrim,” says the Mayor.

He’s a Tolkien fan with a talent for comedy – so what better Hobbit role could there be for Stephen Hunter than food-loving, clumsy and loveable Bombur? I recently had the good fortune of catching a few minutes of Stephen’s time to ask him about his first reactions to being cast in a major role in the upcoming, two-film adaptation of “The Hobbit.”

“The Hobbit is my first job in fantasy – in fact this is my first big-budget film,” he says. “In most of the TV commercials I’ve done I’ve been the comedic relief. I’m only assuming that with Bombur there may be some comedy. Being cast in The Hobbit is really exciting and really an honour. I auditioned for the original Lord of the Rings way back when I signed with my agent in New Zealand. When I saw the films I thought, ‘Man, I so want to do The Hobbit’. “I’m just going to throw everything I’ve got into it. If I don’t come out the other end absolutely exhausted then I haven’t done my job.”

Bailey, who is bringing his comedy show Bill Bailey Live to Wellington in June, told The Dominion Post he had auditioned for the part of Gloin the dwarf in The Lord of the Rings prequel.

“I went along for a read-through of The Hobbit. The first read-through was for Gloin,” he said from London.

Bailey, who can be seen in television series Skins and the movie Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, joked that he didn’t need any makeup to be a convincing dwarf. “I saved myself a few quid over here.” [Full Article]

Discussion board member olipowell has chimed in on the Movie: Hobbit board about casting for Bilbo:

I now know 2 people who have read for Bilbo that I went to Drama school with and I can say categorically they are both entirely unknown outside of the world of theatre & bit TV parts. So…they ARE seeing and have seen unknowns and I would not be surprised if that is the route they take.

Come join the discussion board members as they suggest wild answers to this week’s Middle-earth Conspiracy Theory: Just why did Fatty Bolger remain in Crickhollow when Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin went on their adventure?

The King Kong of the New Zealand film industry Peter Jackson caused more of a scene than the mid-air dogfighting when he turned up to the Classic Fighters Omaka 2009 Airshow in Marlborough, New Zealand, this weekend. The Lord of the Rings director is a World War One aircraft collector and some of his collection is included in the three-day show.

The man who brought us Eomer last night picked up a Best Supporting Actor award at New Zealand’s Qantas Film and Television Awards for his role as policeman Nick Harvey in the movie Out of the Blue:

The gripping re-telling of the 1990 Aramoana massacre, Out of the Blue, swept the movie section of the awards, picking up six awards including best picture.
Matthew Sutherland and Karl Urban picked up the awards for best actor and supporting actor for their roles in the popular movie.

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